I have an old laptop with only 128 mb ram. Which of the fluxbox editions would work? The latest versions require 256 mb ram. I don't need the lates features, but it would be nice to use the laptop for easy tasks. Like playing music, edit a text document or read the news on the web.

I have an old laptop with only 128 mb ram. Which of the fluxbox editions would work? The latest versions require 256 mb ram. I don't need the lates features, but it would be nice to use the laptop for easy tasks. Like playing music, edit a text document or read the news on the web.

None of the version will work. 128MB isn't enough RAM for a graphical installer. Even if you do manage to get the live CD to boot the installer will just crash. I recommend CrunchBang (http://crunchbanglinux.org/) for a machine with that low a specs. It's light and it has an option for a text based installer.

"I see" said the blind man to the deaf man who stuck his wooden leg out the window to check the weather.

Puppy Linux is great, actually my favourite lightweight distro, but it has one problem if you install it, it runs as root all the time which is not really ideal. You can probably change it somehow, but I don't know how.

I've gotten Mint 6 Fluxbox to run with 128 MB RAM, but not any of the newer editions (lowest I successfully tested with Mint 9 Fluxbox was 192 MB). Personally I'd look at antiX for something usable out of the box, or Arch if you don't mind spending a day setting it up. When the Debian based Fluxbox edition hits, it's possible it'll run on 128 MB, but we won't know until it's ready for testing.

Thank you all, so many answers! I have tested quite a lot of the lightweight distros out there, many of those you have mentioned. But I am not an advanced Linux user and really like to use as little tinkering or teminal as possible.

I've managed to install with graphical installer by swapping the HD to another computer (because the laptop lacks both CD-drive and USB-boot!), but still either a distro is too heavy or too unattractive. I had most success with Absolute Linux and TinyMe, but I do love Mint and always want to return to it. So I thought, better an old version than not at all. I might try the lightest version of Vector Linux. Or Crunchbang Lite.

I have mint9-fluxbox on a old laptop with 128-RAM and it is working ......a bit slow ...but works.IF the HD is pre-partitioned with a swap partition (1Gig in my case) the installer will use it and runs without crashing.

Yes, that is true, and according to Clem it will have a more minimalist software selection than either of the current two Debian based Mint releases.Good news for anyone wanting Mint on an older or more limited computer.